We continue our countdown to Women's Rugby World Cup 2010
with South Africa coach Denver Wannies, who reveals the importance
of their two-test series against Kazakhstan and his hopes as his
charges prepare to face Scotland in June.
READ DENVER'S LAST COLUMN >>
We're busy preparing for our two-test tour of Scotland
next month and the players are really looking forward to the
challenges they will face, not least because we're then on the
final straight leading up to the Women's Rugby World Cup in
August.
The aim of this tour is to sustain the momentum we were able
to create with our two victories over Kazakhstan in Dubai at the
beginning of April, while also looking to see to what extent we can
build on those foundations.
We're fully aware that Scotland will be a totally
different assignment to Kazakhstan, even though both sides are also
preparing for the World Cup like ourselves. The conditions will be
different, as will be the level of competition.
We know that Scotland didn't do too well in the Six
Nations, aside from their opening victory over France, so will be
keen to get something going, especially since the World Cup is
drawing ever closer.
Our matches against Kazakhstan in the Dubai desert were just
as important as the ones against Scotland will be, perhaps more so
because it meant that we could start the process of building a
winning culture and team.
Historic win
We were able to win both of the tests, the first 22-17 and
the second more convincingly, 38-0, as by then we had acclimatised
better to the conditions in Dubai. We had also been able to look at
the first match and look at both our mistakes and Kazakhstan's,
enabling us to tweak our game plan.
The margin of victory in the second test may make it stand
out a little more on paper, but the first test was still hugely
significant for South African Women's Rugby as it was our first
ever victory in an international away from home.
I definitely learned some positive things about my players
from the tour, the most important thing being that we are capable
of winning matches abroad. This is something the team had never
managed before, but now they truly know that they can do it and
have this experience to draw upon.
The reaction from the players to the series has been very,
very positive. You must remember that some of them played against
Kazakhstan in South Africa's first taste of the Women's
Rugby World Cup in 2006 and were thrashed 36-0.
For them to be able to beat Kazakhstan, the leading side in
Asia, was almost a confirmation of the fact that they have worked
so hard and developed a lot in the four years since that loss in
Canada. However, they are mindful of the fact that this was only a
friendly and that it was the first game for Kazakhstan.
Ahead of schedule
That said, the two tests were very important because it
afforded us the chance to kick off our preparations for this phase
with two games a team that will be participating in the World Cup.
It also gave us an opportunity to have a look at some new players.
Since returning from Dubai we have had the players together
for another training camp in Port Elizabeth. This came on the back
of the SARU Inter-Provincial Championship semi finals and we made a
conscious decision to withdraw some of key players from the semis
and the final. We therefore needed to make sure that we worked on
the areas they would have missed out on by not playing there.
The training camp was a good one because we were able to
focus on positional requirements and the implementation within the
team. This is very important since we are now entering a stage
where player management is becoming very important. We want to make
sure we are getting that right.
I can safely say that we are on track with our preparations
and maybe even slightly ahead of where we wanted to be. The mood in
the camp is very good, competitive and they are aware that they
need to meet individual and team targets as we countdown to the
World Cup.
Next week we catch up with Wales star Non Evans.
